Simple Gifts
by savvyliterate
Summary: Luke didn't believe in Valentine's Day, but he did believe in acts of love.


**Author's note:** I was asked on Tumblr to do a Valentine's Day story for Luke and Lorelai post-AYITL. I really didn't have a good idea two days ago, but this one hit me today after some inspiration from my husband. I hope you enjoy the story, anonymous requester, and I apologize for the lateness!

* * *

Lorelai wasn't expecting much, if anything, out of Valentine's Day the first year after their marriage. She knew how Luke felt about the holiday, and really they hadn't had the best luck regarding it. Their first break-up happened right as they were about to celebrate it together for the first time. The following year had been the disastrous trip to Martha's Vineyard, and Lorelai eventually found out the necklace she'd been given had originally come from Logan. She'd mailed it back to Logan months after the ultimatum. 2007 had been the year her father was in the hospital and she and Chris split for good right around said holiday.

Yup, her track record with Valentine's Day definitely sucked.

In 2008 and the years that followed, she hadn't expected anything from Luke. She was just so grateful to be with him, and he had finally moved into the Crap Shack with her, the home they had renovated together and not even Christopher could taint for them. Luke didn't believe in Valentine's Day, but he did believe in acts of love, and Lorelai saw them around her all the time. There was so much love in her life that she didn't need a made-up holiday to have him prove he loved her. He'd shown her his love when he stayed up all night sewing together tarps and raincoats so Rory could have a good-bye party. He'd built her an ice rink when she was on the outs with snow. He taught her to fish so she could date someone else. Really, if Lorelai tried to list everything Luke had done for her out of love, she'd have to fill several notebooks and very thick binders. And that was just the things she could remember.

It didn't mean that the holiday went unacknowledged. Lorelai loved Valentine's Day as a concept of showing love to everyone, and she sprinkled cartoon Valentines around the town and made sure those celebrating at the inn had an extra romantic time. She and Rory exchanged goofy stuffed animals, and she mailed sparkly heart pencils to April. And of course she was there the second the Valentine's Day chocolate was marked down at Doose's.

And every year since 2008, Lorelai would walk into the diner to find her favorite mug filled with coffee and a pink-frosted donut on a plate waiting for her. She knew it was important to Luke because in 2010, Kirk tried to help himself to said donut and she walked in just in time to see Luke yelling at him over it. But he never acknowledged it other than the first time when he just gestured to the setup awaiting her. It was hers, and she never asked. She only ate the donut, kissed his cheek, and went on her way.

"So no change this year?" Rory asked as Lorelai came down the stairs. She yawned, absently rubbing her growing baby bump.

"In what?" Lorelai bent over and kissed the bump. "Good morning, loinfruit and future offspring of loinfruit."

"Well, that's creepy, but better than when you said the baby was a parasite devouring my insides for the next few months."

"Oh but it is," Lorelai insisted. "Anyhow, what change?"

Rory shrugged. "Valentine's Day. You and Luke doing anything today? I can clear out for the evening. I still have a few things to take over to the apartment before the move on Saturday."

"I expect it'll be like any other year," Lorelai said, picking up the mail she'd forgotten to look through the previous day. They had spent the past few weeks refurbishing the apartment above the diner, which Rory would take over with future baby Gilmore. Luke had finished turning the area where Jess once slept into its own room, and they finally sat down with blueprints and considered expanding the apartment and turning the rest of the unused space over the diner and ice cream shoppe into a couple more apartments that could be rented out.

"Pink donut and lack of a coffee lecture. Got it." Rory nodded and walked into the kitchen, notebook filled with to-do lists in hand. "Anyhow, I've got the movers arranged, and I even think Kirk won't be- oh my God!"

Lorelai dropped the mail. "Rory?"

"Mom, get in here!"

Panicked, worried about the baby, Lorelai rushed into the kitchen to see Rory gaping at the kitchen table. "What is it? The baby?"

"No, no. _Look!_ "

Lorelai glanced at the table, then did a double take. "Oh … my … _God_."

"Where did you get those?" Rory asked, gesturing at the items on the table. "You said no grocery store in this county had them!"

"Not just in this county, in _five counties_! Even Hartford was wiped clean!"

Two boxes of cereal sat on the table. But not just any cereal. It was the Holy Grail of cereals. It was the Triforce, the Hope Diamond, the One Ring, and every other rare thing Lorelai could think of all rolled into one. It was one box each of the limited edition Girl Scout Cookies cereal. Thin Mints and Caramel Crunch waited in their perfectly innocent boxes, not realizing they were about to become a life-changing experience for the two woman goggling at them.

"This is a miracle. How did these get here?" Rory wondered, and then the answer hit them both at the same time.

"Luke," Lorelai breathed.

"That is clearly a Luke gift," Rory agreed.

A familiar lump formed in Lorelai's throat. It was that lump of happiness and love and all the things she felt for her husband that not even she could find the words for. "He got us Girl Scout Cookies cereal."

"For Valentine's Day." Rory folded her arms across her chest and smiled. "The old softie. That's really sweet, Mom."

"Yeah, kid, it is." Lorelai wrapped an arm around her waist, and Rory rested her head against her shoulder. They stayed like that for a few minutes, admiring their gift. "I'm going to go thank him."

"Ugh," Rory grunted and pulled away.

Lorelai scooped up her purse, debating driving or walking to the diner. A quick glance out the window and at the wind rattling the bushes made the decision for her. Driving it was. "You better not be touching those until I get back."

"But Mom, the baby's demanding a huge bowl of Caramel Crunch," Rory whined.

Lorelai pointed at her. "Those better be unopened, or I'm disowning you."

Rory pouted. "You'd disown me over cereal? What about the baby?"

"Who said I'd disown the baby?" Lorelai sailed out the back door.

Lorelai burst into the diner, ignoring the ready-made place by the register with a brimming cup of coffee and pink donut. She ignored Kirk and Patty and Babette and everyone else who turned out for breakfast and zeroed in on the diner's owner, who had just finished scribbling down an order. He glanced over at her and despite his normally serious face, she could see the happiness to see her and just a hint of nerves in those blue eyes.

So of course she had to kiss him.

"Hey, what's-" Luke started to say, but Lorelai cut him off, grabbing his arm and pressing her mouth to his. Public displays of affection be damned, he'd known the way to her heart and she intended to thank him in the most thoroughly way possible that didn't result in the two of them getting thrown in jail for public indecency. She yanked off his hat, letting it drop to Kirk's table so she could run her hands through his hair. And she knew she'd caught him off guard to the point where he reacted on instinct, because he kissed her back with the same heat and passion that had been in the kiss he'd given her at the Dragonfly all those years ago.

They broke the kiss, breathing heavily and barely hearing the catcalls.

"Um," Luke stammered.

"Newlyweds," Babette sighed with happiness.

"If you two need a room, there's one upstairs," Patty suggested.

"We're not getting a room," Luke managed, finally finding his voice. Lorelai picked up his hat, placed it back on his head, and all but floated to her normal stool. She picked up her donut and took a bite out of it, giving him an exaggerated wink. His cheeks went scarlet and he glared at everyone else. "Just go back to what you're doing. Geez."

Luke all but stomped behind the counter and just sighed at her. "Happy?" he groused.

"The happiest." Lorelai took a sip of coffee.

He shuffled through the order pad without reading the tickets, one of his nervous ticks she found endearing. "So umm … how's Rory?"

"She's good. Mad at me because I won't let her eat breakfast until I get back."

"She needs to eat," Luke muttered.

"She can wait. She won't starve." Lorelai laid her hand atop his. "Thank you," she said softly. "How'd you get them?"

"I know a guy who owes me a favor," he shrugged. "It wasn't a big deal."

She squeezed his hand. "It is to me. You gave me a Valentine's Day gift. You're growing mellow in your old age."

"It wasn't a big deal," Luke repeated, grinding out each word.

"Well, if it wasn't a big deal, I suppose I won't be giving you a thank you gift."

"Lorelai, you don't have to give me anything."

"Oh, but I _want_ to. Very much." Her voice dropped several octaves. "And the sooner you can get Caesar to take over for you for an hour or two, the sooner I can give it to you."

Luke's head snapped up, and she merely gave him a seductive smile that had him blushing again. "Well," he finally replied, "I can make it home in an hour."

"Forty minutes."

"Done."

"Then, I'll be waiting." Lorelai slid off the stool and walked out, leaving the half-eaten donut, coffee, and her stunned and aroused husband behind.

Kirk slid onto Lorelai's abandoned stool. "Hey, Luke, can I finish that?" he asked, pointing to Lorelai's donut.

"Sure, Kirk," he replied, and ducked into the kitchen to see if Caesar could take over as soon as possible.


End file.
